Boeing, NASA, and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) are still “go” for launch of Boeing’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT) of the CST-100 Starliner commercial crew system at 6:36:43 am ET tomorrow morning. The weather forecast is 80 percent favorable, with surface winds the biggest concern. The launch will be broadcast on NASA TV.
All 12 FY2020 appropriations bills passed the Senate today and are on their way to the White House for President Trump’s signature. Assuming he does not change his mind at the last minute about supporting them — as he did last year — DOD, NASA, NOAA and all the other government agencies in the discretionary portion of the federal budget will be funded through September 30, 2020.
President Trump today announced his intention to nominate Neil Jacobs to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, which would also make him Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Trump had nominated Barry Myers beginning in 2017, but his nomination was controversial and never reached the Senate floor for a vote. He recently withdrew from consideration for health reasons. Jacobs is currently Acting Administrator.
The Senate passed the final version of the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today, clearing the last legislative hurdle for creating a Space Force as a sixth military service. All that remains is for President Trump to sign the bill into law. Then what?
Buried in Division H of the FY2020 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1865), Congress is extending a waiver to a nonproliferation law that will permit NASA to continue buying Soyuz seats from Russia for an additional five years, and to enter into Enhanced Use Leasing arrangements for two more years. They are included in the Transportation-HUD (THUD) section of the bill, which was released yesterday and is expected to become law by the end of this week. [UPDATE: The bill passed the House on December 17 and the Senate on December 19.]
The final version of the FY2020 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill has mixed news for FAA’s commercial space transportation activities. The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) got a slight increase over the request, but the two other components of the FAA’s commercial space portfolio received substantial cuts from requested levels. All in all, instead of the $64.6 million requested, Congress approved $51.54 million. [UPDATE: The bill passed the House on December 17 and the Senate on December 19.]
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross continues to be stymied in his efforts to elevate the Office of Space Commerce to his level at the Department and expand its responsibilities. The final version of the FY2020 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill, released today, follows the Senate’s lead in requiring a study by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) on the advisability of that move. The Senate action came after Ross declined to make any witnesses available to explain why it is needed. [UPDATE: The bill passed the House on December 17 and the Senate on December 19.]
The final version of the FY2020 defense appropriations bill was released by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees today. The bill funds the new Space Force, a sixth military service that will be established after the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) becomes law. The funding is modest, $40 million compared to the $72.4 million requested, but that is only for operations of the service itself, not programs. Congress is concerned that Space Force will become another bureaucracy and is keeping a tight rein on its charter and spending. [UPDATE: The bill passed the House on December 17 and the Senate on December 19.]
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees released the final versions of all 12 FY2020 appropriations bills today and hope to get them passed by the end of the week. The Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill that funds NASA is combined with three others — Defense, Financial Services, and Homeland Security — into H.R. 1158, the “national security minibus.” It includes $22.629 billion for NASA, almost exactly the same as the $22.616 billion amended request, but with different priorities than the Trump Administration. Landing astronauts on the Moon by 2024 does not seem to be one of them. [UPDATE: The bill passed the House on December 17 and the Senate on December 19.]
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next TWO weeks, December 15-31, 2019 — the rest of this year. The House and Senate will be in session this coming week and then break for the holidays, returning on January 7, 2020.